Bualtaigh v.t. (vn. -tu m, gs. -ithe) Smear with dung.

"bualtaigh." Foclóir Gaeilge-Béarla. 2005. Print.

I found this strangely interesting for some reason. The word "smear" to me implies that a person takes a piece of dung and spreads it physically with their hands.

Now my first thought was this a colorful way of saying "spreads manure." I grew up in the cornfields of Iowa so this isn't too hard to understand. We did this all the time to our fields also.

But right above it is the word "bualsach" for "slut."

So now I am wondering if this is actually the act of insulting a person. "To smear with dung" is right up Irish's love for poetic insults.

Or perhaps it might even be the actual act of "wiping" dung on a person. I have heard that in the old days, it was not uncommon for prisoners and people about to be executed publically to have horse dung thrown at them.

I can see the connection to "bualtach / bualtrach" which means cow dung. But I am curious how this word was or is used.

If anything, I have a new favorite word for swearing, insulting, or cursing. ;-)

I don't think it has to do with fertilising.

I have never seen the word used, but smear is fairly clear - a hands on action.

I have a recollection of a story about dung and earth being used to seal/waterproof something, maybe it refers to that.

Not the glue I would recommend, but who am I to judge. ;-) I don't think you could pay me for that job.

Many cultures use dung on wattle and daub buildings:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wattle_and_daub

If a person wanted to know the etymology or history of an Irish word like this, is there a good online source or a book out there?

I think it would be impossible to do in reality, but dictionaries never really say where and how they get their information. "Bualtaigh" isn't a common word, it would be neat to be able to find the story behind it.

I often run into words in FGB that I know the majority of the Irish speaking world just don't know about. This is usually the result of it being an older word not used anymore, but just that fact that it is there adds to the richness of the language. And some words even challenge the language itself. It would be nice to if a word was used all over, or just in a local area, or just in written works, or just added when no one was looking. ;-)

Fair play duit. Tá na focail sin ann all right - just ag fanacht to be used in abairtí Gaeilge - nó even in abairtí leathGhaeilge.

Do dhúshlán anois é!

A Bhreandán,

I just got around to looking at the link you suggested about wattle and daub. I could buy this as a possibility. It wouldn't be too big of a stretch to imagine this as a packing material.

I remember when we would completely fill an old chicken coup to the top (about 8 feet hight) with a mixture of horse and cow dung collected from the fields. In the spring when we came to collect it, the stuff on the bottom was always broken up into a farily fine rubble, that could have been used as an excellent packing material I think. Assuming no plants dedided to grow in the mixture that is.

(Agus ag dul i muinín an chaolseans.)

An bhfuil aon bhaint ag "bualtaigh" le "buaile" [ainmfhocal baininscneach den cheathrú díochlaonadh]
áit i bhfeirm le ba a chrú; gort iata; clós. - áit a mbeadh ábhar oibre an fhocail i gceist, mar a déarfá, ar fáil?

Táid araon gaolta le bó:

http://www.dil.ie/results-list.asp?mode=ADV&searchText=%20b%C3%BAaile&HIGH=%20b% C3%BAaile&respage=0&resperpage=10&Fuzzy=0&bhcp=1